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Lighted cigarettes, incense sticks remain top cause of fires: SCDF

SINGAPORE — The indiscriminate disposal of lighted materials such as cigarette butts that have not been properly extinguished, embers from charcoal and lighted incense sticks were the top cause of fires in Singapore in the first half of this year.

Incense paper burning. Photo: Channel NewsAsia

Incense paper burning. Photo: Channel NewsAsia

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SINGAPORE — Careless disposal of lighted materials such as cigarette butts, embers from charcoal and lighted incense sticks was the top cause of fires in Singapore in the first half of this year.

This was revealed in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) mid-year statistics report today (Aug 25).

While there was a slight drop in the total number of fire calls received by SCDF for the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, indiscriminate disposals of lighted material, or ‘dropped light’, were responsible for more than half (55.8 per cent, or 1,343 cases) of all fire calls to the SCDF.

The other causes of fires include electrical faults, overheating and naked light.

For the six months from January to June 2015, the SCDF responded to 2,406 fire calls, down 5 per cent from the same period last year. These resulted in 64 casualties — 31 being smoke inhalation cases, 29 injuries and four fatalities. Compared to the same period last year, fire injuries fell by six cases, while smoke inhalation and fatalities increased by 10 cases and two cases, respectively.

Fires in all three types of premises — residential (1,467 cases), non-residential (254 cases) and non-building places (685 cases) — dropped slightly from a year ago.

But, at residential premises, rubbish fires — which include fires in chutes and bins — continued to account for over half of fires (54.6 per cent or 801 cases).

The SCDF report also revealed that such incidents of rubbish fires tended to increase during the festive season. Nearly half (46.9 per cent) occurred in January and February.

In non-residential premises, the number of fires in commercial premises — including eating establishments, shopping complexes and shophouses — slid 18.6 per cent year-on-year to 114 cases in the six months to June 2015.

Fires in non-built-up areas — of which more than three-quarters are vegetation areas — also fell by 10.6 per cent. That said, there were two more cases of vegetation fires recorded compared to last year, possibly due to the dry spell between January and March this year, SCDF noted.

VEHICLE FIRES

Meanwhile, vehicle fires that broke out while the vehicles were travelling on the road fell from 114 cases last year to 91 cases this year.

ENFORCEMENT

The SCDF said that they are working closely with community partners to expand public outreach efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of rubbish fires, cluttered common areas and vehicle fires.

In an effort to reduce fire hazards, the SCDF ratcheted up fire safety enforcement checks and notices of related offences.

The SCDF conducted 8,244 fire safety enforcement checks, up 18 per cent from the same period last year partly due to increased public feedback received via the mySCDF mobile app, the SCDF said. The increased checks resulted in 1,850 Notices of Fire Safety Offence (NFSOs) in the six months to June — a 34.1 per cent jump from the previous year.

A NFSO is issued when the fire safety violation is of a serious nature that warrants a heavier penalty than a Fire Hazard Abatement Notice (FHAN). Thirty-three offenders were subsequently charged in Court.

A FHAN, on the other hand, is for offences related to non-illumination of exit signs, obstruction to exits and fire engine access ways and poor maintenance of fire-fighting equipment, which last year saw a dip from 1,623 to 1,555 cases.

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